In this house, the week after Christmas {and Easter} means having a lot of leftover ham. I always put some aside for ham pot pie and ham and bean soup. Which leaves me with just enough left to make ham salad, one of my favorites!

The first thing I did was borrow my Mama's vintage 1971 Oster electric food grinder. My Mama bought it new in 1971 and she's been in our family ever since. She's over 40 years old and is still in perfect condition and works beautifully! I use her every year when we make our homemade relish and hot pepper dip.

I start out by cutting my ham into cubes about 1" in size. I put the cubes into the top of the grinder and push it through. If you don't have a grinder, you could also use a food processor. If you are using a food processor, be careful. One too many pulses and you'll end up with mush. I would pulse only 3-5 times. Keep a close eye on it to make sure it's the consistency you want.

Next I put the mayo in a bowl along with some of my sweet pickle relish that I've canned. I added the dijon mustard, a few cut up sweet pickles, the onion powder and mixed it all together. I poured that over the ground ham and mixed it up. Perfection!

You can eat this on a roll as a meal, or use crackers and eat it as a dip. I guarantee that if you put this out at a party, it would all disappear fast!

But the ham salad is equally good as a sandwich spread, or you can put it on a lettuce leaf if you’re watching your carbs.

See how gorgeous and creamy this ham salad is. It has the right balance of a little crunch from the pickles, a little sweetness from the relish and a whole lot of goodness from the ham. Enjoy, I know you will love this recipe!!